Remote learning and other remote response systems allow a broadcaster, such as a teacher or a game show host, to communicate with a large audience that is remote in time and/or distance from the broadcaster. Current remote response systems that allow a geographically diverse audience to communicate with a broadcaster are centered around computer systems that utilize the world wide web. Other remote response systems provide feedback communication from an audience that is sitting in the same room as the broadcaster utilizing infrared, hard-wired connections, or radio signals. Such systems operate using wireless and/or wired technology that sends signals to a receiver within the room, which in turn displays the responses to the broadcaster.
Drawbacks to the existing technology for remote response systems include the required expense of a computer device, such as a personal computer, for each student at a remote location; or the limited range of the wireless/wired technology employed. Requiring a computer device for each student often requires a classroom equipped with computers, and a need for at least some students to assemble in such a classroom. The need for a building and personal computers increases the overall cost and expense of the remote response system. Remote response systems that operate within a small space, such as a broadcasting studio, are limited to use in situations where audience members can all gather in the small space.
Accordingly, there is a need for enabling real time responses from geographically remote locations to a broadcast, while the broadcast is being created. There is also a need to eliminate the requirement for responding persons to gather at one place. There is also a need to eliminate the necessity of a personal computer and an internet connection for each person who wants to respond to the broadcast.